


By the short hairs

by Lynn_Nexus



Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: Cancer, F/M, Self Confidence Issues, Wigs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-19 04:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19968214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynn_Nexus/pseuds/Lynn_Nexus
Summary: Prompt from Cannibalisticshadows:Roxanne’s shorthair wasn’t planned. It’s still growing from the Chemo from years ago. As a very young woman, she was fascinated with Megamind because he had no shame of his big bald head.





	By the short hairs

**Author's Note:**

> So I was looking up pictures of Roxanne wearing her red dress for something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT and ran across some writing prompts... This one really stuck out to me.
> 
> My family has breast cancer on all sides plus skin cancer... so I have felt like cancer isn't an "if" but a "when" for most of my life. I also have long hair and have been making my plans for what would I do if I had to get chemo for years. So... Yea... Blurk! Have a story that's happened in the last two or so hours.

Roxanne always went big on the whole “Metro Man is awesome” thing. Because first off... Yea, he is pretty awesome. He's saved her dozens upon dozens of times. He can fly. He's a pretty genuinely good guy. Laser vision! But it's not all because of him. Some of it's because of her.

So yea, she leaves the rumors about them dating alone. She and him have a good chuckle about it occasionally but they really don't hang out like other people think they do. He takes her places but mostly because he feels bad that she gets caught up in the middle of this. And yea, she's been caught gazing wistfully at him but... Well he's the reason she found out she had cancer. So yea. She puts him on a bit of a pedestal. But really, the biggest reason she really goes over board praising Wayne isn't even really because of him...

It's because of Megamind.

See, she cut her hair short in hopes it wouldn't all fall out. It... Still fell out. And not even all of it! Just most of it... Enough to make her feel like a fucking Zombie extra on some cut rate horror film. And some of it went white for a while... And she just... She couldn't. She shaved it all off... Every last hair. She wore a wig. So her trademark hair that she started reporting in? Wig.

Don't get it wrong... It's a damn good wig! It's actually mostly her own hair. She had... God she had long hair before. Down to mid back and thick... She saved her chopped off hair and was able to get a wig made for her and even if it had to be a pixie cut it was a _phenomenal_ wig. But even the best wig will itch and be frustrating when you have intermittent stubble on your head.

So Megamind and his big, utterly bald, totally unabashed head... It sort of intrigued her.

And you _can't_. You can't be a reporter in this city and have any sort of fascination with it's villain. Not when you're a junior reporter who's sort of sick. And you still can't have any sort of admiration for the villain when he starts kidnapping you. Not when you still have another month of chemo. And you really absolutely _can not_ have a bravery crush on him when you get a promotion based on his tendency to kidnap you. Not even if you sort of wish you could be just as bold as he is and tell your cancer story.

Her hair still hadn't grown back. Not totally. And there was still a white patch behind her right ear. So until the whole damn thing grew back in enough so the wind wouldn't show off a bunch of bald spots... She kept wearing her wig. Every week a bit more of her hair was back, but every week she shaved it all off because it just wasn't enough.

So she would let herself gaze longingly at Wayne when he was carrying her. Because he deserved a bit of admiration from her. And she'd spout the stupidly cheesy things that came to her mind about Metro Man because she believed he was better than other people. Even if she had to keep her admiration of his enemy quiet. Even if she sometimes watched her own report back and looked over at the bald man, her own head bare and itchy and sighed about how nice it would be to go outside and feel the air on her scalp.

~~

Her reaction was... _disproportional_.

Yes, the laser seared far too close to her and he understood that. Had the mountainous moron he'd been fighting watched where he'd been going, she'd never have gotten within two feet of it. And luckily Minion had been able to turn it off. Though he had tested it, it would have gotten uncomfortably hot on her skin, maybe burned her and evil heaven forbid it get her in the eye, but it would be little worse than a sun burn. Yet when it had seared her hair she had screamed.

He'd never heard her scream before.

Human hair shouldn't be able to feel. There was no reason why she should have been injured. And hair grew back... He knew that human hair was little different from his beard... Yet she _screamed_. Horrified terror if he knew his screams properly. He should be forgiven for not knowing her screams intrinsically being she almost never screamed for him. She hadn't taken an interview with the moron either... which left Megamind very confused. She _always_ took the interview. Yet another reporter took her place and asked all the numb questions. Not the feeling ones she always ended up asking.

So He... He was going to _check_ on her.

Just check on her... Nothing she even needed to know about really. He'd just land on her balcony and check to see that she was ok. Make sure that she hadn't been burned or some such... So he did just that. He put the hover bike into stealth mode, intent on testing it out like he'd told Minion as well as his intent to check on Miss Ritchi.

She was home too... Looked to be fresh out of the shower, towel wrapped around her head and ears, robe over comfortably sloppy clothes. He watched her for a moment. She looked dejected. Looked heavy and dragging, her eyes red and her wrist would pass under her nose a several times while he was watching. Finally she flopped down on her couch and pulled the towel off her head.

His jaw fell.

BALD! She was bald! Well mostly bald, his mind helpfully pointed out the short stubble on her head, just enough to let you know she wasn't bald all over but it was patchy. Then he noted the mass of brown on her coffee table as she lifted it, comb in hand. She sniffled again as she tried to run the comb carefully through the hair. It caught and she picked at it, her face twisting with angry hurt.

Her hair... it was a _**Wig**_!

He thought for a moment that he'd made a noise, her eyes flicked up to the door and she scrambled. She tried to run away and put the wig on at the same time, failing at both while he turned to see the hover bike smoking. That was bad... He quickly turned it off along with the stealth mode which seemed to make it billow more smoke. Unexpectedly, as he was trying to ensure the smoke was a safe sort of smoking, the door ripped open at his back.

“I'm sorry!” He immediately blurted out, looking over his shoulder at her, the wig on her head was skewed slightly and looked unnatural. That stopped the angry tirade where it was in her throat and she blinked at him then coughed through the smoke. “I just need... there!” He ripped out the invisibility module. It was totally fried, he'd have to make a new one when he had the time but now... He threw it out into the city, getting an impressive arch on the chunk of metal before one of the brain bots captured it in it's fall and took it further towards another part of the city.

“Woah... is your hand ok?” She asked, eyebrows knit together and he saw how the unglued wig moved strangely. He sort of wished she hadn't put the damaged hair back on. Certainly not for _his_ sake. Certainly not when it got sort of kind of melted today.

“My hand's fine...”

Maybe he'd kept his eyes on her head too long because she growled at him and ripped the thing off her head. “Go on. Laugh.” She growled as she stalked her home, leaving the door open for him, like an invitation. “GRRAAAH! I can't believe you burned my hair!” She shook the wig at him then plopped down on her couch, dropping the wig on the table and crossing her arms. But he couldn't laugh at her...

“You have a beautiful head...”

He hadn't meant to say that. His eyes went wide and so did hers. They sort of stared at each other, agape at the words that had fallen out of his mouth. He blinked at her first, finding words were already pouring out of his mouth without his consent. “It's smooth and well formed, not too big for a human and you have lovely temples...” He bit his tongue and she...

She giggled.

“Are you _actually_ flirting with me Megamind?” She asked with one raised eyebrow. “I mean... I know we sort of flirt all the time but...” He let out a heaving sigh and smacked himself in the face. He tried to find a way to salvage this situation but it seemed like the truth was the best thing he could offer at the moment and that was not likely to be good enough. “Yes? I mean... I'm sorry. I should go...” He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb and she smirked at him, rolling her eyes some. “Not even going to ask why I'm bald and wearing a wig?”

He fluttered his hands at her, trying to be explanatory with the useless gesture. “No, of course not. It's not my place or my business.” He opened his mouth to continue but she blurted out one word. “Cancer.” It stopped him dead. When his wide eyes snapped back over to her she shrugged even as her smile was weak. “It's in remission but my hair hasn't recovered yet.” He stepped forward. “You had cancer while I was kidnapping you!?” Her grin seemed to gain strength. “I was just starting remission when you started kidnapping me weekly.”

He was trying to say something about how if she'd have said something or if he'd have known he would have not. He wouldn't have kidnapped her or endangered her if he'd have just known. She actually broke into an exultant grin which was absolutely gorgeous. “You think my bald head is pretty?” He shook his head and corrected her. “No it's beautiful. You have a very well formed head. I... That's really weird isn't it? I'm sorry...” She bit her lip and looked down for a moment then looked up at him through her eyelashes. “I... I like your head too...”

He stopped. No one had ever said they liked his head. “I mean... Yea, it's big but... I always sort of...” She gave a little wiggling shift of her shoulders as she glanced away, thinking of what to say in this very strange, uncharted sort of territory. “I thought you were really brave for not trying to hide it... Even with how large your head is... I mean... you're probably smart enough to have a way to hide or something... I didn't even hear you come up to the balcony and I know the bike is loud normally... but you have... a very smooth, very...” She seemed to be rambling haltingly then she spoke more decisively. “Your head is neat and I'm glad you don't cover it.” She looked down, a blush forming along her cheeks.

“If...” He started then gulped as she looked up at him. He took a deep breath, gathering his courage. He needed to say this with the most honesty he could. “If I was... If you were dressing to impress _me_... You wouldn't need to wear a wig. You're always beautiful.” She took in a sharp breath, her beautiful blue eyes trained on him, seemingly in wonder. “Good night Miss Ritchi.” He spoke more quietly as he bowed at her then turned sharply to leave, sliding the door closed behind him and slinging his leg over the hover bike which had, blessedly, cooled down. He drove off without looking back. He'd made enough of a fool of himself today.

~~

She shaved her head again this week. Her hair wasn't back in enough yet. But her wig was... Sadly... Ruined. She could wear it in the studio if they shot her from the right side, but not in the field and not from straight on with the singe still emblazoned on the side of it. She talked to her producer about doing a story about cancer. Her cancer.

The next week she went on air.

It was hard. Too hard but she was used to doing things that were too hard and saying to hell with it, she was going to do it anyway. She mentioned chemo. She made a quip about her trade mark hair. She looked into the camera and she pulled.

She was bald.

“I'm not the only woman who has to deal with this. My hair was supposed to grow back fairly quickly but... it's been patchy at best. So I shave it and wear a wig... but... I realized that I'm not alone.” She pinched her lips together, looking at the shiny desk where she could see her big bald head. She looked back up at the camera. “My hair may never grow back in like it was. I may always have bald patches... or the light patch behind my ear... But... My hair isn't who I am. And as much as I miss having my own hair... I miss having confidence more. So... being that my wig was recently ruined...” She turned the fluff in her hand and pressed the curled, damaged hair towards the camera. “I thought it was time to be honest... About myself and my hair. I'll probably wear a scarf because as my hair grows in, it can be...” She grinned down at her wig. “It can be _unruly._ ” Her eyes came glitteringly back up to the camera. “And there are some very, _very_ , pretty head scarves out there. So I'm asking you, the viewers, to be kind. If you know a person who's losing their hair, show them some support.”

The response was it's usual mix and she wrapped her head in a very pretty blue scarf with a black design. It matched the blue dress she'd picked out and she knew that some people would make a connection between her outfit and the other blue and black person in town. But she didn't care.

She walked out of the studio for lunch with her head held high, enjoying the feeling of the fabric draping down her back from where it hung out of the knot. There was a breeze and it floated through the fabric some even if it wasn't as nice as getting to run her fingers through her real hair while the wind blew it felt a hell of a lot better than through the skull cap of the wig. She checked her purse and tugged at the edge of her scarf to make sure it wasn't under her purse strap and took a step. “Wonderful interview you gave today...” She gasped and spun towards that voice... _His_ voice.

She woke up blindfolded... but _not_ with a bag over her head.

She smiled to herself. _How kind_.


End file.
